Dine With Me
by ShipperQueen93
Summary: Mr. Gold offers Belle a deal. She may use his country club for her part on one condition. She has to go to diner with him once a week until the party. Prequel to Dance With Me.


**AN: **Here's the first chapter of Dine With Me. There are going to be, roughly, nine chapters in this fic. I had a bit of trouble getting this chapter out. I'm going to try and work on Family Bonds next, no I haven't forgotten about it. The plan is to alternate chapters between the two series. For now I hope you enjoy this.

**Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT**

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"What?!"

Roman Gold did his best to conceal the smirk sliding onto his features, but he only had so much control, and his lips twisted upwards. The outrage and confusion on Storybrooke's librarian's and, to a lesser extent, her two friends the diner trollop and the sickeningly sweet school teacher, faces were quite amusing.

"I thought that, since you're the librarian, you would understand simple English Miss French. But as apparently I was incorrect in my assumption I will repeat myself. You and Mrs Nolan may use my club for your silly little party."

From the corner of his eye Gold could see Miss Lucas whispering into the ear of Mrs Nolan but he paid them no mind. His focus was on the petite librarian who was glaring at him so hard that, if looks could kill, he'd be six feet under. "I know what you said Gold. I want to know why you've changed your mind."

"I thought you'd be ecstatic at the news, now you can host your little dance at the club. Haven't you been bugging me about this for the last week? "

"Yes, and haven't you been denying us for that last week? Why change your mind now? What are you playing at Gold?"

He didn't know if he should be impressed or annoyed at her bold comments. No one, except Regina, ever spoke back to him. Yet here was this little slip of a woman standing in front of him challenging him with a raised eyebrow. Then again this was the same girl who not even twenty-four hours previously had been shouting at him for being such a bastard. She didn't fear him like the rest of the town did, which is why he was standing in the library offering her want she wanted...in a way.

"I'm not 'playing at' anything Miss French. I am simply granting your request."

Miss Lucas whispered something in Belle's ear but the latter waved her off, not even sparring her a glance. She was still regarding him with a cold look as though trying to get a read on him. "What's your price Gold?"

He chuckled slightly, and noted the flash of annoyance in her eyes at the sound, "I'm afraid I don't understand Miss French. Why would you assume there's a price?"

Belle gave a disparaging snort and rolled her eyes. "Because you always have a price Gold. You don't do anything unless you get something out of it. So I'll ask again since I obviously overestimated your grasp of the English language. What's your price?"

Gold smiled a cold, shark's teeth grin. He quite enjoyed the fact that she was brassy enough to taunt him and throw his words back in his face. Her friends didn't seem to be the same however. Miss Lucas was once again whispering in Belle's ear while Mrs Nolan had her head buried in her hands as if she couldn't believe what just came out of her friend's mouth. Yet like before she didn't pay them any mind, focusing on him and raising an eyebrow at him once more.

"Very well Dearie. If you insist upon a price, you will have dinner with me once a week, until your event, to keep me up to date on everything."

The response was immediate. The Lucas girl shouted out that he was a pervert while Mrs. Nolan pulled Belle away, as if the few extra feet difference would matter. As amusing as their reaction was however, it wasn't them he cared about. No, he wanted to see how Belle would respond to the price he demanded.

He watched her closely and she didn't seem disgusted as Miss Lucas had nor fearful like Mrs. Nolan. Instead, he caught a brief glimpse of shock flit across her face before it was replaced by the same questioning look she wore before. The look that meant she was trying to get a read on him but was failing. "Well Miss French do we have a deal?"

"Of course not you sick pervert!" The Lucas girl was almost shaking in anger as she herded Belle around so that her back faced him, she and Mrs. Nolan closing ranks around her. "Belle you don't have to do this. We can always find another place for the Gala. Maybe if we could talk to Granny..." Belle's laugh cut off the whispered suggestion.

"Rubes you've got to be kidding. There's no room at Granny's, not unless you guys have magically created a ball room since I was there this morning." The taller woman flushed under the truth of Belle's comments. "Well we could petition to use City Hall?" Belle's laugh at the question from the school teacher voiced his own amusement at the idea. "Oh, and have to deal with Regina? I'm sure Madam Mayor would just love to help us out. Face it. Gold may be a bastard but we don't have anywhere else to go."

The two girls sputtered out more excuses but Belle shot down each one until they ran out of even the most absurd of ideas. When they finally lapsed into silence, Belle turned back to him, her face set into hard lines. Gold smirked and copied her movement from before, raising an eyebrow at her questioningly. "Do we have a deal then?"

Belle seemed to be gritting her teeth to keep back some comment but eventually nodded. "We have a deal, but I want a contract drawn up. I want to make sure there are no loop holes for you to weasel through."

Chuckling slightly, Gold slipped his hand into his jacket and pulled the contract he had made up earlier out of his inner pocket. It didn't surprise him that she would want something binding him to his word, she knew enough about him to know that while he always kept to his word, he didn't always mean what people thought. Anticipating this, he had made sure to come prepared. "Very well Miss French. I'll just need your signature then."

Belle's eyes narrowed as she regarded the contract he handed her, "You knew this would happen didn't you?" He gave a small shrug, the slight smile at the corner of his mouth belying the expression however. "I know how to recognize a desperate soul." A chuckle was on its way to leave his mouth as she ripped the contract away from his hand with a glare but it was stopped when she sat down at her desk and started reading.

"What are you doing?" He couldn't help the question that slipped out. She couldn't actually be reading the contract, no one did.

She looked up briefly with a flash of a smirk on her full lips and for the first time in forever Gold was speechless."You don't honestly expect me to sign without reading it do you?"

Yes, yes he did. Everyone did. No one ever read the fine print when it came to making deals with him and they suffered for it. Then again everything he knew about this woman told him she wasn't like the rest of the dunderheaded town of Storybrooke. He already garnered the knowledge that she didn't trust him to keep his word, so it shouldn't be a surprise that she would read through for any loopholes.

"No, this wont do." Belle's accent cut through his thoughts, as did the scratch of a pen against paper. Focusing once more on the little librarian he found her crossing out part of the contract. If it hadn't been for the presence of Miss Lucas and Mrs Nolan, Gold was sure he'd have been staring dumbfounded at Belle as she added in her own condition into the contract. As it were, he barely was able keep his voice calm. "Just what do you think you're doing Dearie?"

Belle didn't even look up at him as she crossed out another part of the contract. "Some of these conditions are ridiculous. I can't be expected just to drop everything just for these meetings. I'm free Thursday nights, we'll have them then."

He wanted to protest, to declare that it was in his right to decide when they would have their dinners, but before he could she spoke up again cutting across any reply he could make. "Also I think it's only fair that I get a say in where we have these meetings at. Unlike some people I actually have to budget my money and can't afford to blow my paycheck on one dinner."

"Well you wont be paying so it doesn't matter now then does it?"

That definitely caught her attention. Pen still poised on the paper she looked up, a mixture of annoyance and confusion on her face. "I don't take charity. I'll pay for my own meals."

"This is not negotiable Dear. I'm not one deign myself to lower standards. I only accept the best and let's be honest, you said so yourself, you can't afford it. Therefore I will pay."

He could see her gritting her teeth, wanting to argue, but he wasn't budging on this point. "It's this way, or no deal." He might be all but forcing her into these dinners and his company but he wasn't going to make her pay for it. He may be a bastard but he was at least a chivalrous bastard.

"Fine. If you want to blow your money go ahead." The words were all but spat at him as she turned her attention back to the contract. He could hear her mumbling under her breath, cursing him and calling him names and he was tempted to tell her that she was about as frightening as a newborn kitten when angered but he resisted. He really didn't feel like having her pen chucked at his head.

Eventually she reached the bottom of the contract and signed her name in a series of loops and swirls. She was glaring at him when she practically shoved the paper in his hand. He gave a quick look through of the parts that she had altered but found nothing that he couldn't live with. Taking his own pen out of his pocket he placed his signature next to her own then folded up the contract, placing it back into the pocket he pulled it from. "Very well Miss French. It seems like everything is in order."

"Indeed. Now if you don't mind, I need to get some work done." The dismissal was clear in her voice and he smirked. "Of course. Have a nice day Miss French. You too Miss Lucas, Mrs. Nolan." He gave a small nod to Belle before he made his way towards the exit. He was almost out the door when he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I'll pick you up at seven Miss French."

"What?!"

"Well you did say we would meet on Thursday's and, in case you didn't know, today just happens to be Thursday. So I will pick you up at seven sharp. Please don't be late, I do hate to be kept waiting." He was smirking when he turned around and limped out the door. He could hear her cursing him to hell and back as the door to the library slammed shut behind him but he couldn't help but smile. These dinners were sure to be an interesting affair.

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I hope you enjoyed this. If you did please leave a review and let me know. If you didn't please leave a review and let me know why. :)


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